Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and something they say reminds you of a similar story from your own life? We all have. But what about when everything they say reminds you of something else and you feel the need to share every thing, every time? At what point have you stopped swapping stories and started to hijack the conversation to make it all about you? This can be a common thing, especially when trading funny life stories.

You can’t be a good storyteller without being ready to listen to someone else’s story. Here are some tips to help you be a better listener… and storyteller.

1. Pay Attention

The attention you pay will be the attention you are repaid. (You can quote me on that if you want) It’s a spin-off of the Golden Rule. Listen to others the way you would have them listen to you. Do you want someone texting while you’re sharing? Do you want them nodding like a moron the whole time you’re talking because they’re waiting for a pause so they can interrupt? No! Then be the listener you want them to be.

2. Keep Your Responses Relevant

Does your input compete with the situation shared by the other party or does it enhance it? To often we share our version because it’s “better” or “worse” than theirs (ie: “You thought that was bad? Listen to what happened to me last summer!”) or we’re trying to prove that we’re even funnier. This is passive-aggressive at its root and not the foundation for a comfortable conversation.

Your responses should be just that, responses. This person is sharing something with you that they care about. They’re not trying to out-do you or brag. People typically share things because it was exciting to them and they want to share that feeling with their listeners. If you will go into each conversation with this assumption, it will make it easier for you to be a listener and a participant without being a topic derailer.

3. Ask Questions Instead Of Relating

The typical thing to do after someone shares a story is to come back with a similar happening in our own world. It’s our attempt at relating but it waters down the conversation and steals the thunder of the storyteller. When we don’t have a way to relate, commonly we will respond with a statement, “That sounds awesome,” or simply, “Wow”. This hands the ball back to the storyteller… but gives them nowhere to go. The best response is to start asking questions. Pull more of the story out of them. You’ll see their face light up at your interest, and as an added bonus, you don’t have to think of a way to relate!

4. Bait Your Hook

When the storyteller is done, then it’s your turn. Do yourself a favor though, give them just a title and tagline before you read the entire article. Put just a bit of your story out and see if there’s any interest before you waste their and your time. It may sound something like this:

“You know, one time I fell down a cliff too. It’s the tumble that nearly killed me.”

See how that pulls you in? I just made that up but even I want to hear the rest of that story.

Your Turn

What tips would you have for our readers? What do you hate about folks who can’t listen? Share your thoughts in the comments!

There are approximately 20 million podcasts available for download across the world. Most of them are probably crap. For many, that’s okay. They just want the experience of doing a podcast, they don’t really care about the listener. But for many of us, though we don’t have the greatest equipment and resources, we want to sound like we do. Since we’re poor and ill-equipped we have to find more creative ways (read: cheaper) to pull off that professional air we’re going for. Here are a few tips that I give when someone asks me how to help their podcast stand out from the crowd. Continue reading →

I haven’t actually found an answer to this question anywhere on the internet. I’ve seen the question asked… but no answers.

How can I forward my dynamically generated feed (http://mysite.com/?feed=podcast) to Feedburner using .htaccess?

I’m no code genius, and if someone finds a better way, please let me know… but here’s what worked for me.

# Add the part of your url that is after the quesion mark between the ^ and the $
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^feed=podcast$
# This line stays untouched. It keeps FeedBurner from doing an infinite loop
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} !FeedBurner
# This line sends the match from the Query String to the new feed. The ? at the end drops the feed=podcast part
RewriteRule ^$ http://feedproxy.google.com/yoursite? [R,L]

Hope it works for you! I have no help for you if it doesn’t. Sorry.

Last year I wrote an article about How I Podcast using Skype. I even updated it once. I have some new equipment and my co-host is in the studio (read: basement) with me. I do things a little differently now. This is how someone might do podcasting when both hosts are in the same space. Continue reading →

Though I think the title says it all, I’d like to dedicate this list to everyone who is interested in starting their own podcast. I had a lot of help when I started my first… and I’ve come a long way since then. I hope these resources help cut your learning curve down a bit! God bless your efforts! Continue reading →

“Should I keep my podcast files on my website?”

“How can I upload my podcast to iTunes?”

These are questions I get asked a lot in both the NLCast Forums and via email. I thought I’d write an article that I can direct people to later. This article assumes you’ve already got a nice little mp3 file complete with id3 tags, album art and all. If you need pointers on recording your show, read How I Podcast.

So you’ve gone and recorded yourself a podcast. Good for you! Really! Now you know how much work they are. But how do you get this mp3 online for folks to start downloading? How do you generate a feed? How can you get this sucker on iTunes? Well, this may not be THE way to do it. But this is how I did.
Continue reading →

As Nobody’s Listening Podcast creeps up on its one year anniversary (woot!) I can’t help but look back at my podlife in 2007. I’ve gotten acquainted with a lot of great people. Many of which have been inspired to experiment with starting their own show. It’s been one of the most gratifying parts of podcasting being able to inspire others the way Scott and Micheal did me.

I’ve compiled a five tips I find myself giving (or wishing I had given) folks who are looking to start a podcast as a hobby. Hope they help you!

6 Tips For Starting A Hobby Podcast

1. Keep it simple. Especially if you’re pressed for time in real life. Prepping for a podcast can take more time than doing the podcast. Simplicity should also be the rule of every other aspect of your show. The website should be clean and simple. Don’t bog it down with ads, forums, etc. Forums are embarrassing until you have a following.

2. Educate yourself. To podcast you need to know computers, the internet, recording, compression, encoding, uploading, creating rss feeds, blogging and networking. (How To Podcast, Podcasting Step-by-Step, How I Podcast)

3. Do it for free. You can always upgrade everything to do with your show later. But you’ll never get your money back if you can’t keep your show going. The only think you may want to spend money on is a URL. Make sure the one you want is available for the name you have chosen and reserve it. Even if you don’t use it or only use it for a while, it’s only $8 a year. (Hosting/Blog – Switchpod, URL – GoDaddy, Recording – Audacity)

4. Use feedburner. It has great stats and let you know when people are listening even when they don’t talk to you (via email and vmail). As a podfriend once said, “Podcasting can be lonely” and he’s right. Feedburner will help you know they’re out there listening. Plus if you ever have to move your hosting, change your ‘real’ feed in anyway, you can just update what feedburner is pointing to and your subscribers will never know the difference. (Feedburner)

5. Start strong. When you release your first episode, don’t spend the whole show talking about what your show will be about. Make your first show what the show will be. When that show is ready to release, post that feed everywhere! Post it to iTunes, Podcast Pickle and every other list you can get on (but don’t ever pay to do so). Also, have a good name and a logo to begin with on a 300×300 graphic for iTunes. (iTunes, Podcast Pickle, Other places)

6. Be consistent. Monthly, bi-weekly, weekly, three times a week… whatever it is release regularly on the same day about the same time. That will mean reserving a recording time ahead of time. If you don’t put it on your calender, and get permission from family to spend the time, you will not release a consistent show. It’s okay for a hobby podcast to miss a week here and there… just let people know the week before.

I hope you find these tips helpful. If I can ever answer any questions for you, don’t hesitate to contact me. If you’d like to know how I do my show, read How I Podcast.

A lot has changed in the way I record the show from when I first started. I wish I could say it was a gradual process, but a lot of my learning has taken place in just the last couple of months. My process of mixing the show down has shortened from several hours to right around 45 minutes. I thought an update on an earlier post was in order.

The How I Podcast post from August 23rd has been rewritten to reflect my new methods. This article has been a great resource for me to refer folks who are interested in starting their podcast. With these updates, I hope to help even more folks shave a few months off their own learning curve and not have to struggle through it as I did.

How I Podcast

Updated 12-07-2007

Some of our listeners, and even a few of our guest-hosts, have asked how we do what we do. I finally figured out that I needed to create a post that I can refer them to rather than giving very short email responses that don’t really help anyone.

First, the mandatory disclaimer. This is not THE way to do it… it’s just how I do it. It works for me. If you have a better way, please let me know.

Second, thanks to Michael Murloc (formerly of The Weekly Murloc) and Scott Johnson (of ExtraLife Radio) for all their help. Michael shaved three months off my learning curve and Scott’s emails helped me tremendously when we had to shift to being a Skype-cast. Also thanks to my bud Vance who turned me on to the whole iPod, iTunes, podcasting thing to begin with. Continue reading →